Henry Wright

A native of Kansas, Wright studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania before opening an office for landscape architect George Kessler in St. Louis, Missouri. Together, they worked on the restoration of Forest Park, the design for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and a planting plan for Washington University. Later, in his own firm, Wright continued work in the region, planning housing developments for three exclusive subdivisions of Clayton, Missouri, as well as completing numerous residential designs. In 1923 Wright moved to New York, joining Clarence Stein’s Regional Planning Association of America and collaborating with him on two community design projects for the City Housing Corporation: Sunnyside Gardens in New York City, and Radburn in Fairlawn, New Jersey. Stein and Wright also collaborated on Chatham Village in Pittsburgh. As a consultant to the housing division of the Public Works Administration, Wright was charged with analyzing housing conditions nationwide. In 1934 he joined the Columbia’s School of Architecture, as part of an intiative to form a town planning and housing studies program. The joint work of Stein and Wright changed the way towns are planned, leading to significant developments in the methods, policies, and theories undergirding contemporary planning efforts.